Chapter XIII: A Desperate Struggle

“I have been following Lannigan and the unknown all night,” said Chick.

“What have they been doing?” asked Nick.

“Something that they have regarded as important, but what I am not certain.”

He rapidly told his experiences of the night, the important feature of which, to Nick, was Lannigan’s visit to Rivington Street, and his entrance to a house there with the unknown, his long stay, and, finally, the hurried departure of the unknown and his running up to Fourth Street for the coach, which was brought down to Rivington Street.

It was there that Chick had sneaked up behind it and tied the yellow cloth to the hind axle, on the chance that Patsy or Nick, or both, might see it, and know that it was one followed by Chick.

He had hardly done this when Lannigan hurried up to the Bowery with something in his arms and under his coat, jumped into the coach, and was driven rapidly away.

After that it seemed to be merely an effort to get back to Lannigan’s apartments in Avenue A in a way that could not be tracked.

Patsy, by questions, soon settled that the house which Lannigan had entered was the tenement house in which Spike had his rooms, and said so positively.

“Then,” said Nick, “it is settled. Lannigan entered that house to steal from Spike Thomas what Spike Thomas in the afternoon stole from Lannigan.”

The two then told to Chick that which had been learned from Spike Thomas and Bally Morris, and together the two stories made a complete one.

“Are you satisfied,” asked Nick, “that Lannigan carried those drawings and the model to his rooms?”

“Yes,” said Chick. “Now, with what you tell me, I know that they are in Lannigan’s rooms at this moment. What has bothered me all night, and why I clung to him so, giving you the trail, was that I knew he was up to some game that was important, but I couldn’t tell what. You see, I never knew that Lannigan suspected Spike Thomas of that theft, nor that you did. You sent me off on the trail of Lannigan before I had learned that. I was beginning to fear you would not pick up my trail, and when I heard Patsy’s signal, was going to chance a rush into Lannigan’s rooms.”

“We’ll make the rush now,” said Nick.

“Where is the unknown?” asked Patsy.

Chick laughed.

“He’s lying under the stairs, at the rear of that house on the corner, bound and gagged.”

“Why?” asked Patsy and Nick together.

“You see, it’s like this,” said Chick, laughing. “After I had tracked them to that corner and saw them both go into the house, I sneaked into that back yard, and was going to try the stairs, when I struck the unknown coming down. It was him or me right on the jump. I was afraid he would give the alarm, and I gave him the garrote so that he couldn’t holler. I went through him to see if he had anything we wanted, and, finding nothing, I tied him up and put a gag on him and threw him under the stairs, where he couldn’t make any trouble for a while.”

“Come on, boys,” said Nick. “We’ve got no time to lose.”

The three detectives hurried to the corner, and entered the barroom, stopping only long enough for Nick to say to the barkeeper:

“I am Nick Carter. These are my two aids, Chick and Patsy. We’re going upstairs, and if you give so much as a whistle of alarm, it will be all day with you. Do nothing, say nothing, and stay right here.”

The three then rapidly passed through the door into the hall, and so upstairs to the second floor. Here Nick said:

“Go to that front door in the hall. When I whistle, break it in. Patsy, follow me.”

Chick did as he was directed, and Nick, followed by Patsy, went to that door which led from the hall into the bedroom.

Together both placed their shoulders to the door, and, exerting their united strength, burst it open with a crash.

They sprang into the room, with a loud whistle from Nick, and had hardly landed on their feet when they heard the crash of the door burst in by Chick.

Lannigan was in bed, and he sprang up into a sitting position with an oath.

He seemed to take in the situation instantly, for he reached under his pillow with both hands, and drew forth two revolvers, both of which he leveled at the two intruders, discharging them at once.

The balls went wide of the mark, doing no damage to either Nick or Patsy.

Lannigan immediately sprang out of bed to his feet in another effort, but as he raised his arms to level his revolvers again, Chick burst through the door leading into the front room, and, springing forward, struck Lannigan on the head with the butt end of his revolver.

He did not prevent Lannigan from discharging his revolvers again, but he did prevent him from taking true aim, and thus, for a second time, the balls went wide of the mark.

Chick attempted to take the revolvers from Lannigan, and succeeded in wrenching one from him.

The other one, however, Lannigan was desperately endeavoring to use, and this time on Chick.

The bed was between Chick and Lannigan on the one side and Nick and Patsy on the other.

Patsy sprang on the bed to cross it to go to Chick’s assistance, while Nick attempted to pass around the foot of the bed.

Grappled by one, with two approaching him from different directions, Lannigan, for a brief instant, seemed to hesitate on which he should use his revolver.

The hesitation was fatal to him, for, as a matter of fact, in his doubt he aimed nowhere, discharging it between Nick and Patsy.

The next moment Patsy had seized his arm that held the revolver, and, with a quick wrench, he took it from his hand.

Without weapons, Lannigan made even then a desperate effort at a fight.

He was a powerful man, with muscles like steel, wiry and active. But he was not a match in strength or skill for even Chick, and when Patsy’s strength was added, he was as a child between them.

The two threw him over on the bed, where they held him down.

“You’d better give up,” said Nick. “You’re done, and you can’t make any fight. You’ve lost the game. It’s all up with you.”

“Who are you?” panted Lannigan. “What do you want?”

“Those drawings and the model that you stole from Mr. Herron’s house night before last, which were stolen from you by Spike Thomas yesterday afternoon, and which you stole from Spike Thomas this morning.”

Lannigan stared at Nick, leaning carelessly over the foot of the bed, and breathed rather than said:

“You must be Nick Carter.”

“You’re quite right, Lannigan,” replied Nick, with a smile. “Where are those papers?”

“They’re not here,” replied Lannigan, “and you’re vastly mistaken if you think I will tell you where they are.”

“Roll him over, Chick,” said Patsy.

The two rolled Lannigan over to the other side of the bed, and Patsy, thrusting his hand under the sheet, pulled out a flat bundle of papers he had felt when they had thrown Lannigan on the bed.

He handed them over to Nick, who laughed as he said:

“Here they are.”

But Lannigan swore like a trooper.

Nick looked them over carefully, comparing them with the list Mr. Herron had given him, and said:

“The drawings are all here except one.”

“And here is that one,” said Patsy, taking it from his pocket. “I found it on the roof of this house yesterday afternoon.”

Nick took it, remarking that it made the set complete, and added:

“Now for the model.”

He began a search of the rooms, and finally, turning to the two, who were holding Lannigan, said:

“Handcuff that man and tie his ankles, while we search for that model.”

This was done, and the three began an exhaustive search of the rooms, which ended in finding the model, badly broken, in a pasteboard hatbox in the bottom of a closet, covered with clothes.

“I think this can be patched up by a skillful man,” said Nick, after examining the model. “At all events, we have got all that we started out to get. Now, then, loose that man’s feet and we will take him around to the station house and lodge a complaint against him.”

By this time Lannigan seemed to realize that the game was up, as far as he was concerned, and he tamely submitted.

“Chick,” said Nick, when they were on the sidewalk, “you’d better get your man that you laid away on the stairway.”

Chick, followed by Patsy, went to get the unknown, but on arriving there found that he was no longer there.

Whether he had succeeded in getting loose from his bonds and gags, or whether some one had found him there and had released him, could not be told.

He was gone, and, so far as Nick Carter and his aids were concerned, he was never seen in New York again.

The three detectives then went to Mr. Herron’s house and delivered to him the drawing and the model.

That same day both Seaman and Elwell were arrested for complicity in the burglary. They easily obtained bail, and when the trial came off escaped punishment for the want of sufficient evidence to connect them directly with the crime.

The jewelry and silver plate taken by Lannigan and the unknown, who remains unknown to this day, were recovered from the fence in Hunter’s Point, which was searched on Patsy’s suggestion. So that Mr. Herron’s loss in the end was little or nothing.

Ida was not compelled to play the part set for her, but Mrs. Pemberton allied herself to Mr. Herron’s interest on receiving another check for $10,000, the payment of the one Elwell had stolen being stopped at the bank.

Since that time, she has taken out the patents which secured to herself and Mr. Herron the control of the important invention, and a company has been organized, with Mr. Herron at the head, to put it into execution.